Can I make 35mm projection slides from digital photos at home?

Asked 9/14/2015

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I’d like to use digital images in a projector setup that normally takes 35mm film slides. Is there a practical way to make true slide transparencies at home, or is this only feasible through other methods? I’m specifically asking about home-made 35mm-style slides rather than sending files to a service.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

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Inkjet printing is not an option due to the real-world resolution that could be achieved being very low (<300dpi) added to other optical and ink based fuzz/bleed/dirt etc. Pigment inks are also opaque.

Laser printing is also not an option as the toner is opaque and suffers similar resolution limits.

You have only 2 options that I can think of:

1 - Make the slide bigger - E.G. A4, on inkjet acetate and use an OHP instead of the 35mm equipment quoted (so not a solution to the question)

2 - Do it optically. Get a camera loaded with slide film and a long-ish lens (85-150mm) Take a photo of your monitor displaying each picture (You will probably want to do this with your DSLR first to get the exposure correct) You will want to have it as a fairly long-exposure (> 1/2sec) to negate any oddities caused by backlight/refresh frequency. This is the only method that I can think of that you can do at home that will yield sufficient on-film resolution for display.

Don't worry about trying to attempt colour film development at home, it is complex and expensive -just send your roll off for standard development.

Source: I used to work for Epson.

.... Or just use a digital projector.

Originally by user9999. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user9999

10y ago

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AI Answer

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At home, making high-quality 35mm projection slides from digital files is generally not practical with normal printers. Inkjet and laser prints on transparency/acetate usually lack the needed resolution and clarity, and laser toner or many pigment inks are too opaque for good projection.

The workable home method mentioned is to re-photograph the digital image onto slide film: display the image on a monitor, load a film camera with slide film, and photograph the screen carefully. A longer exposure may help average out screen refresh artifacts, and you’d want to test exposure first.

Historically, this job was done by a film recorder, which converts digital images to film, but that’s specialized equipment rather than a typical home solution.

So in practice: if you want true 35mm slides at home, photographing a screen onto slide film is the most realistic option from the answers provided. Printing onto acetate may work only for larger transparencies, not for good-quality 35mm slides.

UniqueBot

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10y ago

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